News

May 14, 2012 Vancouver, Canada --
El Niņo Ventures Inc. ("ELN" and the "Company") (TSX.V: ELN;
Frankfurt: E7Q; OTCQX: ELNOF) is pleased to announce a non-brokered
flow-through and non flow-through private placement of up to a
combined 18,181,818 units for gross proceeds up to $2,000,000.

Each non flow-through unit ("NFT Unit") at a price of $0.11 per NFT
Unit will consist of one common share and one-half of one
non-transferable share purchase warrant ("Warrant"). Each whole
Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one common share of the
Company at a price of $0.21 per share for 18 months from closing,
subject to an accelerated expiry, such expiry being accelerated to
30 days in the event the Company's shares have closed at or above a
price of $0.40 per share for 10 consecutive trading days on the TSX
Venture Exchange.

Each flow-through unit ("FT Unit") will consist of one common
flow-through share in the capital of the Company and one-half of one
non flow-through, non-transferable share purchase warrant at a price
of $0.13 per FT Unit. Each whole warrant will entitle the holder
thereof to purchase one additional non flow-through common share of
the Company at $0.23 for a period of 18 months from closing subject
to an accelerated expiry, such expiry being accelerated to 30 days
in the event the Company's shares have closed at or above a price of
$0.40 per share for 10 consecutive trading days on the TSX Venture
Exchange. The private placement and any finder's fees payable are
subject to regulatory approval.

The proceeds of this private placement will be used to fund the 2012
exploration budget at the Murray Brook Polymetallic project in
Bathurst, New Brunswick and general working capital.

About El Niņo Ventures Inc. Bathurst Projects

1. Bathurst Mining Camp Project: (Tri-Party Agreement)

Consists of an initial 4,712 claims in the Tri-Party Agreement with
Xstrata & VM Canada whereby VM Canada may incur exploration
expenditures of $10 million over a period of 5 years to earn a 50%
interest. VM Canada may further increase its interest to 70% by
spending an additional $10 million over 2 years.

2. Murray Brook Project:

The Murray Brook project, which has an excellent infrastructure, is
the fifth largest, massive-sulfide deposit in the Bathurst Mining
Camp. VMC can earn up to a 50% interest in the Murray Brook Project
by funding $2,250,000 of exploration expenditures over a period of 3
years. ELN has elected to participate by paying 50% of VMC's
exploration costs. VMC and ELN have a second option to acquire a
further 20% by incurring an additional $2.5 million in exploration
costs.

In 2011, ELN and VMC spent $2.1 million on exploration; and
completed 10,000 meters of drilling. Drill results to date have been
very encouraging.

A recently completed (February 2012) NI 43-101 Mineral Resource
Estimate for the Murray Brook Zn-Cu-Pb-Ag-Au deposit, which includes
explanatory footnotes, is presented below. The resource estimate is
based on various assumptions regarding mining methods, processing
and metal recoveries, payable metal NSR credits and metal prices.
This estimate makes no provision for capital costs to mine the
deposit, nor mill the material mined, as resources are not reserves
and the reader should not presume economic viability.

Table-1 Murray Brook Mineral Resource
Estimate Summary

Mineral resources which are not mineral
reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by
environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political,
marketing, or other relevant issues.

The quantity and grade of
reported Inferred resources in this estimation are uncertain in
nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define
these Inferred resources as an Indicated or Measured mineral
resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result
in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured mineral resource
category.

The mineral resources in this
news release were estimated using the Canadian Institute of
Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral
Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by
the CIM Standard Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by
CIM Council

The Dec 31, 2011 two year
trailing average US metal prices used in this estimate were
$3.71/lb Cu, $1.03/lb Pb, $0.98/lb Zn, $1,397/oz Au, $27.63/oz
Ag. The C$/US$ Exchange rate was 0.99.

El Niņo Ventures Inc. is an international exploration company,
focused on exploring for lead, zinc, copper, gold and silver in New
Brunswick, Canada and copper in the Democratic Republic of Congo
("DRC").

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange
nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements. Note: This
release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual
future events or results and are based on current expectations or
beliefs. For this purpose, statements of historical fact may be
deemed to be forward-looking statements. In addition,
forward-looking statements include statements in which the Company
uses words such as "continue", "efforts", "expect", "believe",
"anticipate", "confident", "intend", "strategy", "plan", "will",
"estimate", "project", "goal", "target", "prospects", "optimistic"
or similar expressions. These statements by their nature involve
risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially
depending on a variety of important factors, including, among
others, the Company's ability and continuation of efforts to timely
and completely make available adequate current public information,
additional or different regulatory and legal requirements and
restrictions that may be imposed, and other factors as may be
discussed in the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com),
including the most recent reports that identify important risk
factors that could cause actual results to differ from those
contained in the forward-looking statements. The Company does not
undertake any obligation to review or confirm analysts' expectations
or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after
the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated
events. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements.

You can view the Next News Releases item: Thu May 17, 2012, El Nino Ventures Inc. Announces High Grade Zinc, Lead and Silver on Phase II 18,000 metre Drill Program at Murray Brook Polymetallic Deposit, in the Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick